Machine for making insoles.



No. 70!,l9l. Patented May 27, I902.

A. B. FOWLER.

MACHINE FOR MAKING INSOLES.

(Application filed Mar. 6, 1901.)

(Nu Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet I.

Vflqass e s.

N0. 7D|,|9l. Patented May 27, I902.

A. B. FOWLER.

MACHINE FOR MAKING INSOLES.

(Application filed Mar. 6, 1901.)

3 h- VEIfEUI Z WT 5555a 57 49W War/L N0. 70l,|9|. Patented May 27, I902.

A. B. FOWLER.

MACHINE FOR MAKING INSOLES.

(Application filed Mar. 6, 1901.)

(N0 Modem 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

l 1 $3 UH l 1 LE 3 3 g 3 m U N s M a a? a 3 i-" w m N 23 N x v N wiry; 55 ES. 3 IqVEIfiUK d%d%aw UNirnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED B. FOIVLER, OF CENTRAL FALLS, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF IATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR MAKING INSOLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 701,191, dated May 27, 1902.

Application filed March 6, 1901. Serial No. 50,047. (No model.)

To rtZZ whont it ntrty concern;

Be it known thatLALFRED B.FOWLER,a citizen of the United States, residing at Central Falls, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Making Insoles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Generally speaking, the two principal types of insole for welt and turn boots and shoes now in common use are the channeled and lipped insole. The channeled insole is commonly made by cutting an oblique incision through the outer surface of the sole from the center toward the edge and turning up a portion of the sole above said incision to form a lip and at the same time splitting the edge of the sole and turning up a part of the split portion to form another lip, leaving the other part projecting to form what is termed the feather. In many channeled insoles the lip formed in making the feather is out off and in many both lips are cut off, leaving the between subsitances-i. 6., the portion of the sole between the channel and the feather-flush with the surface of the central portion of the insole. A lippe'd insole has no channel, properly speaking; but a lip is provided to hold the seam, which lip is commonly formed by splitting the edge of the sole and turning up a part of the split portion,as before suggested.

The present invention relates more particularly to machines for making channeled insoles; but certain of the devices herein shown and described are applicable to machines for forming and setting the lip upon a lipped insole.

The object of the present invention is to secure an even and smoothlycut channel and an even and continuous lip and to reduce the amount of power required to feed the Work, thereby preventing the tendency on the part of the feeding instrumentalities to tear or distort the same.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved means for simulta neously cutting and setting the lip without liability of tearing or injuring the same.

My invention as applied to a machine for making channeled insoles has for its further object to provide means whereby in turning the toe the between substance will not be weakened by being made too narrow, as it is liable to be when the insole is made by any prior machine known to me.

To secure the above objects and other advantages, which will be obvious to one skilled in the art from the following specification, my invention consists of the devices and combination of devices hereinafter set forth and claimed.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my improved machine. Fig. 2 represents a plan View of the same. Fig. 3 represents a partial central longitudinal section showing the front part of the machine. Fig. 4 represents a detail plan view of the cutters used in my machine, their carriers, and adjacent parts. Fig. 5 represents a sectional view of the edge of an inner sole before it has been acted upon by my machine, but showing the positions of the cuts to be made by my improved machine in dotted lines. Fig. 6 represents a similar sectional view of the edge of the sole after it has been acted upon by my machine, and Fig. 7 represents a plan View of the toe portion of an inner sole to be used in the manufacture of a boot or shoe having a pointed toe.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts wherever they occur on the difierout parts of the drawings.

Within bearings in the frame 9 is mounted the driving-shaft 10, which is rotated therein by means of the pulley 11 or other equivalent means. The driving-shaft is provided with the worm 12, which is firmly mounted thereon and rotated therewith. Within a bearing in the frame 9 is also mounted the shaft 13, which is provided with a worm wheel 14:, rigidly mounted thereon and meshing into the worm 12 to cause a rotary motion to be imparted to the shaft 18 from the rotations of the drivinga. hearing in a block 16, movable up and down within guidesin the forward part of the frame 9. The feed-wheel 17 is rigidlymounted upon the forward end of the feed-shaft andpreferably has its surface slightly knurled, so as to assist in causing the feeding of the stock v when said wheel is rotated by the action of the worm 12 and connecting parts, as will be described hereinafter. A suitable spring 18 is preferably interposed between the block 16 and the frame 9, so as to exert a yielding upward pressure of the wheel 17 against the under side of the stock. 7

Within suitable hearings in the upper part of the frame 9 is rotatably mounted the up per feed-shaft19, which is provided with the worm wheel 20, rigidly mounted thereon, meshing into'the worm 12 and causing the rotating of said shaft thereby. Upon the forward end of the shaft 19 is rigidly mounted the feed-wheel 21, which is rotated with said shaft and is preferably provided with teeth upon its circumference to cause the feeding of the stock by the rotations of said feed- "wheel.

The feed-wheel 21 is located directly above the feed-wheel 17, so that the upward pressure of the latter will cause the stock to loe clamped between said feed-wheels, and as these wheels are caused to rotate with the same speed at their circumferences, but in opposite directions, it will be seen that the stock is fed forward thereby. It will also be seen that the yielding pressure upon the feedwheel 17 will compensate for any variations in the thickness of different inner soles which may be acted upon by the machine.

The feed-wheel 21 has another function besides thatof cooperating to feed the work as above explained, its lateral faces acting to support the lips of the insole and cooperating with the devices hereinafter described in the lip-'settingoperation. Upon the-driving-shaft 10 is rigidly mounted the eccentric 22, which" is rotated with the driving-shaft and causes a rocking movement of the lever 23 upon its fulcrum 24011 the frame 9 through the medium of the connecting or eccentric rod 25. A knife or cutter 26 is secured to the lever 25 in such a manner that when said lever is oscillated on its fulcrum the cutting edge of the knife will act upon the inner sole and form the cut 3, as shown in Fig. 5, in the arc of a circle which is concentric with the center of oscillation of the lever 23.

The fOlIDaIld arrangement of the eccentric .22and its connections with the lever 23 is preferably such that the knife or cutter 26 is given a very short vibration, not sufficient to withdraw it completely from the channel, and the knife or cutter is preferably made with a portion of its cutting edge oblique to the line of feed, so that by the combined feeding move- 1 ment of the work and the movement'of the cutter a shear cut is effected.

Upon guides 29 on the forward end of the frame 9 is mounted the block 30,'which is free to be moved on said guides at right angles to the center lines of'the feed-shafts 15 and 19, and within guides in this block '30 is mounted the cutter block orwcarrier 31 in such a manner that it is free to be reciprocated within its guides in a line parallel to the center lines of the feed-shafts. Upon the carrier 31 is secured the knife or cutter 32 in such a manner that when said carrier is reciprocated upon its guides, as hereinafter described, the cutting edge of the knife will act upon the edge of the inner sole held between the feedwheels and form the cut 2, as shown in Fig. 5.

1 The reciprocations of the knife or cutter 32' are also preferably quite short, and said knife or cutter is preferably formed with a portion of its cutting edge oblique to the lineof feed,

portion of the edge is turned upward and inward, as at4, to form a lip, and the portion of the sole above the cut 3 is turned up to form another lip, as at 5, thus forming the channel 7 and feather 6, substantially as shown in Fig. 6, with the between substance 8 and two lips 4 and 5 between them. The

insole above described is not new in the art, although where an insole is provided with a channel, as 7, the lip 4 is commonly removed. 1

In the lipped insole the channel 7 is omitted.

In the machine of the drawings (see Fig. 3)

the feed-wheel 21 acts on the top of the between substance S, and the lips 4 and 5 are formed upon opposite sides thereof, said lips IIO being'hammered against the lateral faces of said Wheel and setin a position at substantially a right angle to the surface of the sole by the following mechanism: Upon the lever 23 is mounted the block 27, which has its free end resting against the upper side of the knife and-provided with the inclined surface 28,

substantially as shown in Fig. 4., so that when the knife 26 is moved in the stock by the oscillations of the lever 23 and the stock is fed forward by the feed-wheels the lip 5 of the channel will be turned upward an d'beaten out- Ward against the feed-wheel21, so as to be set in position shown in Fig. 6 or substantially at right angles to the surface of the inner sole.

Upon the carrier 31 is mounted the block 33, with its free end resting against the upper Side of the knife 32 and provided with theinclined surface 34:, substantially as shown in Fig. 4, and so that when the knife is moved in the stock by the reciprocations of the carrier 31 the lip 4 will be turned upward and beaten inward against the feed-Wheel 21, so as to be set in the position shown in Fig. 6 or substantially at right angles to the surface of the inner sole. It will be seen that the combined actions of the knife 32 and inclined surface 34 is such that the feather 6, with the upward-projecting lip, is formed upon the edge of the inner sole. An eccentric 35 is firmly mounted upon the driving-shaft and rotated thereby, causing the reciprocations of the carrier 31 upon its guides through the medium of the connecting or eccentric rod 36, -connecting the eccentric and the carrier.

The knives 26 and 32 are preferably so arranged in relation to each other that the deepest part of the cut 3, made by the knife 26, will be on a level with the plane of the cut 2, made by the knife 32, and they are also so arranged that they normally are in line with each other upon a line at right angles to the line of the channel and feather being formed thereby.

The blocks 27 and 33 are both preferably so constructed that when in the material they act as plows to turn up the lips 4 and 5 as the work is fed along.

In prior forms of channeling machines, where the channeling-knife and edge-splitting or shouldering knife, as it is sometimes called, are set in line with each other in turning around the toe of a shoe, the line between the knives extends obliquely and not directly across the between substance, and the between substance is made narrower than it would be where such line measures the shortest distance across it, and the insole is sometimes materially weakened by such narrowing of the between substance. In myimproved machine I remedy this difficulty by moving the knives out of line with each other in order to cause the knife 32 to cut in advance of the other knife in going around the toe portion of the sole. To accomplish this result, I have mounted the block 30 on guides 29, as above described, and have moved said block upon said guides by means of suitable operating mechanism, shown on the drawings as consisting of the bell-crank lever 37, fulcrumed at 38 to the frame of the machine and having one of its ends forked and engaging a pin 39 on the block 30. The opposite end of the lever 37 is connected by the rod 40 to a suitable treadle, (not shown on the drawings,) by which it is turned on its fulcrum when the toe portion of the inner sole is to be prepared.

A suitable spring 41 is interposed between the lever 37 and the frame of the machine, which spring tends to hold the lever in contact with a suitable stop 42 and so that the knives will normally be in line with each other. In order to allow the carrier to move sidewise, as above described, the connectingrod 36 is guided within the bearing 43, and

the ears on the carrier, to which the connecting-rod is attached, are spread aparta distance at least equal to the width of the connecting-rod plus the amount of the desired sidewise movement to be given to the carrier above described.

The machine is provided with a gage 44, adjustable in a line parallel to the center lines of the feed-shafts by means of the screw 45, which is screwed through a screw-threaded perforation in the frame and rests against the back of the gage. This gage determines the depth of the cut 2 and the position of the cut 3 in relation to the edge of the inner solo. The machine is also provided with a presserfoot 46, which rests against the upper side of the stock and regulates the depth of the out 3 in the stock.

Having thus fully described the nature,construction, and operation of my invention, I wish to state that I do not regard the same as limited to the specific embodiment herein shown and described, but desire to secure by Letters Patent and claim 1. In a machine for making insoles, a feeding mechanism to feed the work, two vibratin g knives, mechanisms to vibrate the knives in opposition to each other and at right angles to the direction of the feeding of the work, combined with a turning surface in connection with each knife to turn the lip upward when formed by the knife, for the purpose set forth.

2. A machine for making insoles, having, in combination,a channeling-knife, and an edgesplitting knife normally in alinement transversely to the line of feed and means for throwing said knives out of their normal alinement during the operation of the machine to cause one knife to cut in advance of the other, substantially as described.

3. Amachine for making insoles, having, in combination, a vibrating channeling-knife, arranged to cut transversely to the direction of the feed, a similarly-arranged vibrating edge-splitting knife, and means forrelatively and laterally changing the paths of motion of said knives during the operation of the machine, substantially as described.

4.- A machine for making insoles, having, in combination, a channeling knife, an edgesplitting knife, and means for relatively moving said knives in the direction of feed during the operation of the machine to change their relative cutting positions, substantially as described.

5. A machine for making insoles, having, in

of asole, two opposed lip-turning devices act= the sole between the lips cut by said knives, ing to set the lips cut by said knives and a substantially as described. support for the lips between the lip-setting In testimony whereof I affix my signature devices, substantially as described. in presence of two Witnesses.

7. Amachinefomnaking insoles, having, in ALFRED \B. FOWLER. combination, two opposed vibrating lip-cntting knives, cutting transversely to the direction of the feed, and a feed-wheel acting on l Witnesses:

ALFRED H. 'I-IILDRETH, FRED O. FISH. 

